Hornets in the Hive: Socialists in Early Twentieth-Century Utah BY J O H N S. M C C O R M I C K
in Utah today, and it is easy to assume that it always has been. Yet, in the early twentieth century, the Socialist Party of America was active throughout the state, attracted widespread support, and had considerable impact. Few people realize this, however, and historians have written little about it.1 This article proposes to sketch the scope of Socialist party activity in Utah in the first two decades of the twentieth century, look at the kinds of people who belonged to the party, and suggest areas for further research. Throughout the nineteenth century Socialist groups in the United States were small and isolated and had little impact on American life.2 Around the turn of the century that began to change. In 1901 the Socialist Party of America was founded. During the next decade it enjoyed continuous growth. By 1912 it had a membership of 118,000 people, its presidential candidate, Eugene V. Debs, received nearly one million votes, 340 cities and towns throughout the country elected more than 1,200 Socialists to office, and 2 Socialists were serving in the U.S. Congress. At the same time, more than 300 Socialist papers were published throughout the country. One of them, the Appeal to Reason, published in Girard, Kansas, reached a circulation of 761,000 a week. Socialists SOCIALISM IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD
Dr. McCormick is research manager for the U t a h State Historical Society library. T h e only published study is John R. Sillito, "Women and the Socialist Party in Utah, 1900-1920," Utah Historical Quarterly 49 (1981) : 2 2 0 - 3 8 ; and there are scattered references in a few theses and dissertations. 2 For useful overviews of socialism in the U.S. in the nineteenth century, see Albert Fried, Socialism in America from the Shakers to the Third International (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1970), p p . 178-95, and Lillian Symes a n d Travers Clement, Rebel America: The Story of Social Revolt in the United States (Boston: Beacon Press, 1972), pp. 3-209. 1
Opposite: The rally described in this handbill was held in Tooele ca. 1915. J. Alex Bevan was elected to the Utah State Legislature from Tooele County in 1914 and 1916. Courtesy of Mrs. Cleone Hogevoll, daughter of Thomas De La Mare, a long-time Tooele Socialist who was related to the De I^a Mare sisters noted on the handbill.
